Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Solving Glare and Heat Gain

  • 01/01/19
Draper custom motorized shade system

The Gordon Parks Arts Hall in the University of Chicago Lab School installed a custom motorized shade system on tracks with redirectional rollers.

The University of Chicago Lab School had a problem in its new arts facility, the Gordon Parks Arts Hall. “They had a beautiful façade design with unique angles and breaks in the glass,” says Clint Childress, LEED-AP, solar control solutions product manager at Draper, Inc. “But with this design, they had a problem finding any solar shading that would work.”

Bryan B. Biggers III, president of Beverly Venetian Blind Company, agreed it was a complex project. “It’s something we had never done before,” Biggers says, “but I felt that it would be a great opportunity to do something very special even though we really didn’t know how we were going to accomplish it.”

Biggers approached Draper’s Solar Control Solutions (SCS) division, which designs and manufactures custom solutions for customers around the globe. “SCS is about bringing solutions to solar shading problems,” Childress says. “There may be too much heat gain, a unique glazing design, an operation that is not standard, or anything that makes standard products not an ideal option.”

After some back-and-forth exchange of ideas and on-site meetings, a final design was agreed upon: a custom motorized shade system on tracks with redirectional rollers to help the shades follow the changes in slope. One of the biggest challenges for the Draper design and production teams was the different brackets required. “With the changing break-line in the curtain wall glass per shade, each shade was slightly different,” says Draper’s Director of Engineering Harold Seib. “Different length tracks (both left and right side for each shade), different length brackets, and different numbers of brackets.”

Biggers has returned since the initial installation to make a few adjustments and said the Lab School is extremely happy with the unique shading solution.

www.draperinc.com

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management January/February 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Preparing for the Next Era of Healthcare Education, Innovation

    Across the country, public universities and community colleges are accelerating investments in healthcare education facilities as part of a broader strategy to address workforce shortages, modernize outdated infrastructure, and expand clinical training capacity. These projects, which are often located at the center of campus health and science districts, are no longer limited to traditional classrooms.

  • UNT Dallas Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for $100M STEM Building

    The University of North Texas at Dallas in Dallas, Texas, recently celebrated the opening of its new, $100-million STEM Building, according to local news. The ceremony on Dec. 2 preceded the first day of classes in the facility on Jan. 12, 2026.

  • Illinois District Boosts Security at High-School Stadium

    Richmond-Burton Community High School in Richmond, Ill., recently announced that it has completed the redesigned entrance to its high school stadium with a new focus on school security and community engagement, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects and Engineers on the project as part of District #157’s year-long facilities master plan.

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part II

    As education leaders look toward 2026, the design of K–12 and higher education facilities is being reshaped by powerful, converging forces. Survey respondents point to the rapid growth of Career and Technical Education, deeper alignment with workforce and industry needs, and the accelerating influence of AI and emerging technologies.

Digital Edition